Ruins

Humans have lived in the southwest since the end of the last Ice Age, over twelve thousand years ago. The earliest evidence comes from sites in Arizona and New Mexico where Clovis hunters killed and processed large wooly mammoths. As the centuries passed these nomadic hunters learned to work the land and farm, building beautiful pueblo homes of stone and adobe. These villages were everywhere throughout the southwest. Some structures were small one-room seasonal dwellings, while others were large multistory buildings that housed hundreds of people.

Today, the ruins of these ancient pueblo dwellers are scattered across the southwest. In fact, there are so many ruins it is difficult to take a walk in the woods without stumbling upon a ruin of some sort. The best of these sites are preserved within the many National Parks and Monuments of the region.

Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.

Francis Bacon